Nineteenth Century America
Chasing Beauty
I just finished reading Chasing Beauty: The Life of Isabella Stewart Gardner by Natalie Dykstra. Here’s the short version—wow! Here’s the slightly longer version: Beautiful prose. Rich with insights. Wonderful storytelling. Not necessarily in that order I did not go into Chasing Beauty cold. Natalie and I became deadline buddies and fast friends in the…
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Maggie Lena Walker Opens a Bank
Circling back once again to the theme of women entrepreneurs, allow me introduce you to Maggie Lena Walker (1867-1934)[1] , the child of a formerly enslaved, illiterate mother who became the founder and president of an important Black-owned bank. Walker was born in Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy, two years after the end…
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From the Archives: Cornelia Hancock–Civil War Nurse, Reformer, Muse
Dear Marginalia: As some of you may remember, ten years ago I wrote a book on Civil War Nurses called Heroines of Mercy Street: Real Nurses of the Civil War. Right now I have Civil War nurses on my mind again as I prepare to give talk on the subject at the historical museum in…
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